In regards to some fan’s angst over HC Paul Chryst losing committed recruits, it is important to understand that Dakota Conwell is the only recruit who PITT has actually ‘lost’ so far. It is apparent that the new coaching staff allowed WR Corey Jones to switch to Toledo without much of a fight to keep him as evidenced by Jones’ own words in this Post Gazette Blog article.

“When coach Graham was there, I would get a lot of phone calls from Pitt,” Jones said. “After he left, that slowed down. I just felt like things fell off or something. I felt like I wasn’t a main priority for them.

“I wasn’t sure of how Pitt was going to handle things, how I was going to fit into their offense and if I was still in their offensive schemes. … [Pitt’s coaches] are cool, but I’m just trying to do what is best for me and I think Toledo’s offense is what’s best for me.”

At 5’9 and 165 pounds you can see that Jones fit the stereotype of WR that Todd Graham was recruiting. That didn’t seem to be a priority for Paul Chryst at this time. I would have liked for PITT to keep Jones though, talent is talent and I feel it’s a good use of a scholarship.

Note also that both Corey Jones and DB Chas Whittaker, who had committed to WVU, are teammates who made this decision together.

From the looks of things, as detailed in this Trib-Review piece, our staff is still in hot pursuit of others who will fit their plans for the type of football players they want to field this season.

“Meanwhile, Chryst offered a scholarship to defensive back Ryan Lewis, of Sammamish, Wash., his father said.

Lewis, who visited the campus over the weekend, is the son of Seattle Seahawks vice president of football operations Will Lewis and the nephew of former Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, who played cornerback at Pitt.

“Ryan really enjoyed his visit and the coach enjoyed having him there,” said Will Lewis, who is a cousin of Pitt linebacker Tristan Roberts. “(Ryan) is going to think about it for a couple of days and get back to him, sooner rather than later.”

Lewis, 6-0, 185, has offers from Colorado and Utah. He is rated a 3-star recruit by rivals.com.

Pitt welcomed several recruits to Pitt over the weekend, including defensive tackle Willie Henry and defensive back Sean Draper of Glenville (Ohio); defensive tackle Terrell Jackson of Marion Franklin (Ohio); and New London (Wisc.) offensive lineman Gabe Roberts, who also is considering Wisconsin.”

Of course, Chryst & Co. have some other more familiar names that they have been working on to play thier college ball at PITT. J.P. Holtz and J.J. Denman, at TE and OL respectively, are highly sought after recruits who have interest in PITT. Safety Bam Bradley and LB Deaysean Rippy are possibilities also among others the staff has contacted and worked to commit.

On the flip side we may lose Adam Pankey to WVU as he visited the Mountaineers on the 13th, but no solid news on him so far. So it looks like we’ll get some real recruiting news over the next eight days.

All things considered, the turnover in recruits thus far is remarkably low and it is best to steer a young man whom we did not want (under this staff) to a school where they are wanted.

Comparing this season to the non-turnover year in which Anthony Morelli and Johnson both decommitted late, we are light years ahead of the game.

IMO, Pitt is being well served by this “no nonsense” approach to everything including recruiting. Now, will it translate into “W’s”? Time will tell, but it is one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk.

PLEASE SEND A MEMO TO THE PITT MARKETING DEPARTMENT.

No more cheeky slogans, sound bites or short cuts. Just sell tickets, deliver them where they need to be when they need to be there and keep your thoughts to your self.

Publish the schedule, put a collage out of the of Pitt players from 1900 to now on whatever you distribute, spell “PITT” correctly and get out of the way. The rest will take care of itself.

Typically after a big recruiting week-end there is a commitment or two. Nothing so far! Let’s hope a few decide to commit here instead of elsewhere. The question still out there is will this staff be able to close the deal? It is one thing to go about things low key but you still need to have the closer.

My thoughts on the recruits leaving? If they feel their not a fit, and Pitt feels their not a fit, then their not a fit.

I trust Paul Chryst. I trust him far MORE than I trusted Graham. He sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders and will be here for the long haul, so wants to make sure he has the right pieces to lead us to a Big Least title in our final season (hey a guy can dream can’t he? )

Per Twitter, Rivals.com is reporting that JJ Denman is committing to Rutgers. Kudos to Chryst and Co. for getting him on Pitt’s radar, but Rutgers is pretty much right in his backyard, so that may have played into it. If the report is true, it would’ve been nice to get a higher-profile lineman to go with Bisnowaty in this class, but rest assured that Chryst and Bostad will get their chances with many more players like this over the next few years and should deliver on their fair share of them.

Still very much encouraged by what the current staff has been able to do with the commits they inherited along with some other names coming into the fold here.

If we really consider the fact that Chryst will be coaching in 2012, Graham(and Haywood for a week) in 2011, Stachy in 2010, why would a recruit really think this is finally the coach? wouldnt be completely surprised if we had a lower class next year. Until people stability and the W’s it will be hard to win over a kid that didnt grow up “wanting” to play for Pitt. How many kids grow up wanting to be a Buckeye, or Gator? You just hear much about kids always wanting to be a Panther. Hopefully Chryst is the man to change that!

WINEDOGS-Watching Andy Lee punting for the 49’ers
should remind all of us that having a good punter and a kicker (See Noo Yawk Giants) is not a bad thing to have on the team. We could do better in both departments!

QuipScript, obviously, none of us has any idea of what Chryst has for his long-range plans and goals for his coaching tenure here at Pitt.

As fans, we want immediate stability, with steady improvement, and long-term success with BCS Bowls. We’d love to have Chryst around for decades, because he’s built a program here, and perhaps future kids will dream of becoming a Panther one day.

Were I in Chryst’s shoes, I’d probably be shooting for more baby steps, with more short- and medium-range goals. I’d want to see how much Pitt is supportive of me, and what I’m doing. Are they making it easy to do my job as head coach, or do I run into obstacles?

With some luck, hopefully it becomes win-win-win, for Chryst, the administration, and the fans. And with luck, hopefully Chryst builds on that, finds that Pittsburgh and the university agree with him and his family, and that he grows to love his job as HC for the Panthers.

Stoosh, Rutgers is on the up-tick and is a strong buy while Pitt is a sell (based on upper management instability) – I agree that Chryst et.al. can turn this program around. Denman was committed to Wisc and it’s too bad if we loose him.

Info for you all who think we are ok on recruits
Penn state with all the shit that went on there
now has 18 comitments they are kicking our ass
we are down to 16 comitments and loseing players
so untill are HC signs more players
dont expect me to bye in to his recruiting powers
i bought into TG but this time you need to show me and right now we are moveing down not up.

Frankcan, I keep reading things like it is not so bad that recruits are decommiting because it will leave room for others. But where are the others? Urban has recruiting restrictions but it isn’t stopping him from bringing in top recruits, some from our backyard. Looks like we are losing prospects to Rutgers and Toledo!! I hope I am wrong but PC is off to a slow start so far. PC and staff may be good coaches but you have to have the raw materials to make steel.

There are enough materials on this team now to make the steel. The majority of players were recruited by Wanny and fit well with PC and Co. And, I’m fine with whatever makes high Octane going to MAC schools.

Jones has 2 things working against him, his size and his academic deficiencies. Chryst is honoring all offers made by Fraud Graham and his staff, that said, they are certainly concentrating on the committed players that are committed that they want and taking a run at guys that weren’t interested prior to the coaching change. If a kid still wants to come that isn’t high on Chryst’s list, that’s fine. If they choose to go elsewhere, Coach Chryst isn’t going to lose any sleep and neither should we.
If a smallish spread football slot receiver wants to go to Toledo, look past the snub and question why he is going to Toledo. It’s not like he chose Ohio St, Michigan or even WVU. To put a lot of effort behind a kid that is not a goos fit football or academics is just not worth it. I don’t care if there are 4 stars after his name.
Pitt is still in the running for Dennman. He hasn’t said a word about which way he is leaning. He is still a Wisc commit, he did visit Rutgers, but I saw him Saturday evening at the Pete for the basketball game. That’s either the second or third time on campus since Chryst and Bostad reached out to him They are also pursuing another Wisc Oline recruit, so there are things happening, they just keeping a low profile.
LOI is 9 days away and I think that most of the kids that haven’t committed to date will wait until 2/1 to make it public. If Chryst gets Holtz, Dennman and Rippy, we will all be happy to say goodbye and good luck to Jones and Conwell.

I’m not too worried that Jones decommitted. It’s pretty clear that the current staff didn’t want him and that they wanted the scholarship for someone else. I would be concerned if the staff made a push to keep him but he still left. The list of 5’9″ impact receivers is pretty small. Also, Pitt has Ronald Jones who is basically the same size as Corey Jones. There is basically no way you can play two under 5’10” WRs at the same time in a pro-style offense.

FRANKCAN and Houston Panther – I totally agree with you. I have seen nothing so far to lead me to believe that this new crew can recruit.Like I said before I am afraid that we will try to be a Big Ten team with subpar Big Ten talent and loose all of those recruiting wars to OSU, Mich., Mich. St., PSU and Wisc. If that is the case we will have Wanny type teams at best for years. Being out recruited by Rutgers on Dennman is troubliong since I don’t think he was considering them until lately.

PSU did just add 4 new recruits, 3 – 3 stars and 1 that’s not ranked at all. They just lost Camren Williams to OSU and his classmate Armani Reeves (both 4 star recruits) from the same HS is expected to flip too.
O’Brien took a shot at Voytik and he said no. That’s a win for Chryst
So to date O’Brien has lost one and soon to lose another, but he has added 4. Chryst has lost 2 with a third likely to go and has only added 1. Scout has Pitt & PSU at 18 each, both schools will probably go 17 soon. I think that the new staff is going to come through, unlike some of you do not think so. All we can do now is wait and see.

Fraud kept 1 of Wanny’s recruits while the rest decommitted. Chryst has kept 16 of 19 of Fraud’s recruits. Yet some (a few bloggers here and Doke) want to crucify Chryst. Let’s put things in perspective and have reasonable expectations.

TX PANTHER no one wants to crucify chryst
rivals has pitt at 16 that is is the best site
i think.
just dealing in facts as of today it could chane in a day or two but as of now penn state went from 14 to 18 pitt from 19 to 16 fact.

Listen with Paul Chryst Pitt has a Great Long Term investment he is going to build the offence of Wisc and Defence that will win. Solid staff moves and smart about the current recruits. St penn situation Really rather trade ours for theirs?

PC was hired a month ago. So far he has brought in 1 no star recruit. He has kept most of TG’s recruits. Pro style is almost unbeatable if you have great players at every position. Ask Alabama. Wanny ran a pro style offense with not enough good players. He was considered a pretty good recruiter but not a good game day coach. I am afraid that we are going to have good game day coaching but not as good players as Wanny had.

I can’t help but think we’ve got a good shot at Holtz. Especially with Chryst’s reputation for working with Tight ends. For what it’s worth I switched Pitt to Wisconsin’s playbook in NCAA 2012 for the xbox and then let the cpu run the simulation. and the tight end is the team’s leading receiver and an all-american candidate every year.

listen, I think I’ve said it before, but Pitt doesn’t need highly rated recruits to win. they need great coaching. Boise state never gets more than three star recruits yet they never lose, even against great competition. Chryst needs guys that fit what he wants. the biggest key is how he developed the players. with that said, it’d be great for the program if they could land the rushel shells and Patrick kuglers and Robert fosters of the world. it brings excitement to the program. you know what brings even more excitement? winning. that’s all that matters and that’s all I want

listen pk, Pitt needs both great players and great coaching to win. PC’s style of play requires a lot higher level of players than Boise State has to compete at the highest level. So far, this staff has recruited 1 player in 5 weeks while losing 4. That math won’t work.

Guys, as slow as the recruiting may be and to put Chryst aside for a moment, this class is already a very strong one.

If you are worried about how well this staff can recruit just remember this – we have had three HCs in the last 13 months. That is a huge negative in the eyes of recruits and their families.

But, next year that will be forgotten, Chryst will be the established PITT HC and we’ll have a better selling point with recruits.

As to OSU and PSU – nothing is going really to slow down their recruiting and I said as much months ago. In fact, PSU and OSU don’t have the burden of “Head Coaching Musical Chairs” like PITT has. Their reputation in football is head and shoulders above PITT’s and they play in a league that is much more prestigious than the BE and better than the ACC. Those are real leverage points both in recruiting in general and when they directly recruit against us.

Not landing Denman, Cox or any other recruit from now until LOI Day is absolutely not going to make or break PITT football down the road. What is way more important than that is having a strong and positive effort out on the playing field to show that PITT football is on the rise…which it certainly hasn’t been over the last two years.

Show that stability is there and recruits will see the benefits of playing at PITT. Until then understand that this recruiting season is being conducted under the auspices of another weird year in PITT football – and prospective recruits don’t like that.

I think Walt Harris was a good coach, but he didn’t place much emphasis on recruiting. He seemed to think it didn’t matter who his players were, he could coach them up. He usually did, but I’d love to have seen what he would have done with some 4 star players.

this is seriously pissing me off. at this rate Pitt will have 4 commits next week!!! these guys should be getting recruits just from their resumes regardless of recruiting skills! if they can’t get it together by Loi day, I will not have given up on their recruiting prowess, but I will have SERIOUS reservations.

frank, the obvious answer would be to say that the kids just want to go to a place with coaches who they are familiar with, but it very well might be more than that. like I said just their resumes should get them solid recruits but regardless of stars, Pitts now lost three/four commits and added one. jones leaving, I’m not worried about. slot receivers are something Pitt has a good number of, but offensive linemen? with bostad and hueber? that’s troublesome.

Not ready to panic yet. Concerned , but that’s it. I thought Cook was gone as soon as Chryst was hired. An undersized center who played a shotgun only center in a spread formation in hs doesn’t really fit Chryst and Bostad’s style. And he lives about 45 minutes from Miami.

If anything, I’m a little encouraged by Jones and Cook leaving. Could it be allowed to get players that fit Chryst’s plans a little better? We will find out soon…

pk that is the point and if they were haveing outher player commit to take there place it would be ok but so far they have not
penn state is loseing player but they are haveing outhers commit to take there place and we are not.

Cook wants to be near Mommy and Daddy and that’s O.K. with me. He had offers from Miami, Oh and Youngstown State….not exactly a powerhouse combo.
I believe that Chryst is losing players that he believes are not going to fit his system. Denman
going to RU is an entirely different situation because he has family close to New Brunswick.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose…let’s give this time to play itself out because we have NO way of knowing if Chyrst & Co. have some top players hiding in the closet waiting to sign.

cook is 290 pounds bye next year he would be 315
how is that under sized.
denmen was goin to wisconsin i did not hear that he wanted to be close to them then .
why would players be hiding sign them up like penn state is,

frank, let’s be honest, Pitt is a tougher sell than psu. 4 coaches in a year? constant mediocrity? I’m not making excuses but, while this is a little disappointing right now, by next week we could be singing chrysts praises

Reed pk houston panther Dokish says the new pitt staff doest seem organized or focused players arent receiving phone calls in a timely fashion
ETC so put that in your pipe and smoke it every thing is not all right. you see he never had to recruit and it looks as if we will pay for it.

I started to worry when it took PC so long to even start to put a staff together. It still isn’t fully together.
Most of the recruiting news I see is about decommits. This was once a pretty strong class but it is sinking fast. Yes, I would say this staff is not organized.

We expect trials and tribulations. I am not going to lose sleep over an undersized WR, a shotgun snapper, and a guy who never really seemed all that excited about Pitt but committed cause of a strong relationship with a guy who went to AZ to coach under RichRod.

I think we all are overly reactionary to any news that sounds remotely bad, but I will hold my opinions for next years recruiting class if you don’t mind.

If he only loses these three and gets a few guys in that are more his style, with only 5 weeks at the helm…I am gonna consider that gravy.

Pitt is losing MAC talent to MAC schools. Jones and Cook are not big losses IMO. At his size, I would have been surprised if Jones would have become anything other than a good kick returner if he stuck around. With Cook, there must be a good reason why his only other FBS offer was from Miami(OH). If they don’t fit the system, let them go and use the scholarships elsewhere, whether it is this year or next year.

Reed well said. No matter what we want to think OSU and PSU are higher profile schools/conferences. PSU is not PED State as much as many want to believe, It was 1 person and they will be in jail. Losing recruits to the MAC tells me that Fraud had some reach recruits and in the long run is no big deal. Losing out to Rutgers or even WVU is going to happen. And I learned along time ago that only worry about what you can control and I can’t control a damn thing at Pitt. Pitt is a great institution and anyone fortunate to get a scholarship will get a great education which is what college athletics is supposed to be about.

DaveD as pk said they should be able to sign pplayerson there nane alone but what really has me upset is what Dokish wrote go read it your self
as some one on here all ways says it does not make me warm and fuzzy it makes me worry and it is not who we lost it is they have not signed any one to take there place.

pk make up your mind a few posts ago you could see are point and were worryed you said if this keeps up we will be down to 4 now you agree with daved
you need to pick a side of the street you are fliping like a pan cake

I think a lot of the lack of commitments under Chryst has a lot to do with the time of the year. When a kid waits this long to make his decision, he is usually going to take an official visit on every weekend in january (milk the system) and then commit either late January or on signing day.

If anyone cares about an outside opinion this was from Andrea Adelson on todays ESPN Big East Blog who best i can tell doesn’t have a dog in this fight.

Pitt: Pitt has a commendable class, considering the Panthers have had three coaches in a little more than two years. The move to the ACC has been roundly lauded by prospects, but credit newly hired head coach Paul Chryst for holding the 2012 class together.

Go back and read this blog when Brandyn Cook committed to Pitt. There were only about 3 of us on here who thought a 2 star player listed a 6’2″, 275 could be a good find. “So small, so low rated. Graham is recruiting MAC quality players.” But he did fit Graham style of shotgun snap, zone blocking perfectly. Now that he has left people on here freak out. He may be 290 now but he hasn’t grown taller. He and Pankey were both rated as projects by Dokish and most recruiting sites.

I know being a Pitt fan has taught us all to assume the worst but GEEESH!

None of us have an idea how this will play out. Last year snake oil Graham who could sell ice to an Eskimo couldn’t salvage the recruiting class but he was applauded for doing as good as he did. This year Chryst holds onto 75% of the class (including all the biggest names) and some are ready to declare him a disaster????

If he loses Voytik, Shell & Bisnowalty, I’ll freak. Until then, I think I will wait until at least (Oh, I don’t know) LOI day before I declare him a disaster.

frank, I said understand your point but I wasn’t panicking. I said that it COULD be that the staff can recruit. I’ve said many times that all of you are over reacting, the post about the 4 recruits was an impulse but when you think rationally, saved is right

Just for discussion because I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF OF THIS, What would you do in the following scenario:

You become head coach for the 1st time at a BCS school that has been fairly average.

You have 3 weeks to LOI day and are sitting on a potential Top 25 recruiting class that happens to have several players hand picked to play in a spread, no huddle offense and a 3-4 defense. Neither of which you plan on keeping as your base package.

You do the moral thing and honor all scholarships previously offered.

Now, with 3 weeks to go and only about 5 spots open, do you:

A) Work your butt of to hold everyone we have even though a few seem destined to leave…

B) Allow those who don’t meet your expectations to drift away to open up other spots…

C) Hold out to hopefully land the big fish 4* players even though it is unlikely you will get many if any with 3 weeks to go…

D) Do you fill all the spots you can to get a big class even if you have to get leftovers who are either lower rated or may not be entirely your type of guy…

E) Allow those who don’t meet your expectations to drift away and save some of those spots for next year when you have had a year to build relationships and actually recruit with some stability…

Tough choices. What do you do? And remember, hindsight is 20-20. You have no idea how any of these players will pan out.

PS – After all, a few months ago most of us said sure, dump JJ Richardson and Jaylen Bond. Gotta clear room for Khem Birch…

I’m not saying anybody is wrong to doubt, it’s just way too early to freak out.

Bowling green panther penn state coach has had less time he is doeing very well thank you
and has a full staff,
and you miss the point it is not who he lost it is that he has noy replaced them and dockish knows more than you or i and he says they are not
focused or organized that make me worry

look penn state is loseing players but they are replaceing them with outhers if we were doeing the same i would not worry but we have signed one and lost 4 maybe 5 so dont say it is ok not untill he replaces them

Is it just me or does anyone else find it curious that PC has been pretty quiet. Sounds like he may play things pretty close to the vest and if so that is going to be a big adjustment for at least me compared to Fraud who spoke just to hear himself and even Wanny. Not publicly airing his his recruiting could very well be a great strategy as to not give anything away. If so not so sure that is a bad idea. Given the need for immediate information these days this could take some getting used to. BUT if he succeeds I can deal with it

As this board proceeds to flip its collective poop over perceived lack of inactivity, I see a fellow Pitt fan on Twitter re-tweet Demitrious Davis, who said he just got off the phone with Chryst. Fellow Pitt fan asked him via Twitter if it was a good talk and he answered in the affirmative.

I don’t follow any of the recruits on Twitter myself but some of the fellow Pitt fans I follow do. From what I’ve seen based off things they retweet, the coaches ARE in very regular contact with these kids.

Again, guys…relax. I understand the concern. I understand the circumstances aren’t the best. But there are people on Chryst’s staff who have been recruiting at a high level for a long time. We’ve got a whole other week of this. A lot can happen and that goes both ways. I know we’re all afraid of worst-case scenario, but as Reed, FTM and PK said, the core pieces of this class still seem to be very secure, and what matters much beyond just this recruiting class is what Chryst and Co. do with the players on the field.

I agree. I’ll never forget when I was a substitute teacher on the day a local qb announced he was going to Mich State on live tv from the high school library. Small school – only time that had happened. there. I commented to one of his coaches what a big deal that was only to be told by his coach – “He’ll be back home in a year. But boy will his 15 minutes of fame last forever here.” Didn’t finish his first season.

I believe there was a sad case in Utah or Nevada where a kid totally lied about who was recruiting him and held his own press conference with the hat picking and everything. Sad what our society has become.

There are rumors that they’re close to hiring Bobby Engram as the wide receivers coach and Al Holcomb to coach the defensive linemen. Holcomb is currently a defensive assistant with the NY Giants, so he’s busy for two more weeks. Engram was an offensive assistant with the 49ers.

For what it’s worth, Dokish has also tweeted today that he expects Pitt to get JP Holtz and Gabe Roberts.

He’s playing up the loss of Cook, but I’m not sure how much stock he’s putting in Cook primarily being a shotgun center in high school, something that may have made him more valuable to Graham’s offense than Chryst’s.

I’ve been watching Dokish on twitter and his blog today. Man, he gets excited when he gets on a roll. Anyway, from what I can tell it’s not that he thinks Cook is good as much as he is worried that at least he was a body, something Pitt is sorely lacking on the line. He said if they replace him with somebody equal that fits better then so be it.

I can understand that. O-line depth has been an issue here for some time. Losing Cook hurts from the standpoint that it at least hurts depth. Beyond that, we’ll see. I think come next week, this staff will still pull in its fair share of linemen on this current class.

I know some of the coaches with Wisconsin ties obviously bring with them their pretty strong reputations for recruiting, developing and coaching up linemen, but I think it was a bit premature to expect the floodgates to open right away as well. This kind of ties into what Reed and others said above – this is still a program that is likely dealing with the aftershocks of three head coaches in 14 months.

The biggest statement this staff will make with recruits isn’t so much what it can do in about a month on the job right now, but rather after recruits have had a chance to see what they do on the field this coming season and even the following one.

J P Holtz and Gabe Roberts i would be glad to have them
but what is the big deal with HOLTZ he is only a 3 star per Rivals it is not like he is a 4 or 5 star and roberts is a NR i mean we need them and if we get them good
but holtz is not in rivals top 35 TE is it becuse he was once a penn state recruit glad to have him and all that . but he is not the best TE out there.

FRANKCAN: when it comes to o-linemen and bob bostad, the least of my worries is how many stars they are ranked. brandyn cook is a 3-star, yet he only has offers to pitt, miami OH, and youngstown st. it doesn’t add up. as long as bostad stays, he’ll coach these guys up well above where they were ranked. and since holtz will spend a lot of time blocking, you can say the same sort of thing about him.

HoustonP
-do you really think that PC’s best move was to bail out on his Badgers in the Rose Bowl no less after the tg debacle. It’s about accountability in life same in recruiting
-Maybe recruit spots are opening up for players this year..next year with all these recent departures. Perhaps they are part of the master plan PC has implemented to devise his deviancy to take over the world…!

For anyone to think PITT would have even allowed Chryst to leave Wisconsin to come to PITT before he coached in the Rose Bowl is out of their mind. PITT was in major damage control mode at that point. Even though Graham made the chickenshit move to run to ASU, there definitely was a question in the national media minds of “Why did he want to leave PITT so fast?”

It was also a reflection on PITT whether we like it or not and PITT was going to take the high road no matter what Chryst wanted to do.

As to recruiting, to think that this shortened recruiting season is any sort of harbinger of how Chryst will do in future seasons is a real reach IMO. We just don’t have enough behind the scenes info to say that. However, you can say you are disappointed in this class if you feel the need to. I really don’t though. I’ll reserve my judgement until after LOI Day.

Put it this way. When DW was hired he recruited very well his first three years yet we went all that time without one winning season. I remember people jumping up and down because he was ‘such a good recruiter’ early on yet in his first three years we went 5-6, 6-6, 5-7 and that was with recruiting classes who had a lot of four and five star players.

I think that with hindsight that DW was recruiting the stars and not the players who he felt would most enhance the football team. Most coaches don’t do that unless they are so strong of a program that they stockpile the highly ranked players like USC and ND used to do. I also think it bit him in the ass in the long run because his teams became one dimensional by necessity due to poor recruiting of the whole of the positions. It was like his staff didn’t really put the effort into researching the actual players but instead grabbed the highest ranked ones.

For example, if no star Caprara contributes even on special teams and sees some action at LB, he’ll be far ahead of what five star Shayne Hale has done for PITT.

If Paul Chryst is targeting kids he actually feels will be main contributors to the program instead of worrying about losing a four star WR who he might not have wanted to keep in the first place… then I’ll be satisfied in the long run.

As to the Rose colored glasses, better that than to need a Valium prescription to calm the “PITT is doomed” fears down so you can sleep at night.

So much gloom and doom over players no one cared about before. From what I’ve read, it seems these players Pitt “lost” were more along the lines of let go by Pitt. Corey Jones said he didn’t have enough contact by the current staff. Do you really think that Paul Cryst is so unorganized that he can’t call Corey Jones? That seems pretty foolish to me. Clearly, they’d prefer to use the scholarship of these players that don’t fit on other players that they think fit better.

Denman to Butgers and Center recruit Cook just decommitted. Would have been nice to pick-up Denman but you can’t lose what you never had. Cook’s change is understandable since he is undersized for the new scheme.

I am disappointed in the progress so far but I don’t think I have lost my mind. I was expecting PC to stay at Wisconsin through the bowl game but to put some effort into organizing his staff and contacting recruits during the time leading up to the bowl. This is what O’Brien has done at PSU while keeping his very high pressure day job with the Patriots. While PSU is a high profile program it must be a hard sell because of the tragedy surrounding the football program. Nevertheless, they have recruited 7 players since January 16. We have 1 since PC took the reins.

I believe someone posted that if we gave 20 scholarships that would take us to the 85 limit. That was also as it stands with the current roster. Don’t know this personally just trying to remember. what was posted

I know when we had 19 every one said we had 5 more to give .
i just checked are class is down to 15 so we
have 9 to give. 2 things dont count walk ons brown is listed as on team he is a walk on as are outhers.
and cincy has given 32 so they are brakeing some rule some were.

giveitarest some one posted on here that we are loseing 15 players off of team this year .
dont know what are total on team is like i said you dont count walk ons and some said there are at least 2 who dont have the grades to stick.
are you sure of the 85 rule i thought it was 100.

Down to 15 and need some good PR to stop the slide. Alot of this is perception and if the perception is a defection of commits that effects the entire outlook. A commitment or two would help but there is no news coming out of this group other than possibly a Holtz commitment.

As far as Holtz is concerned he was probally coming to Pitt even if Graham was still the coach. I would like to see a decent profile recruit that is picking Pitt because of the new HC.That is why Denman would have been a good get.

Aside from the 4 stars, is Denman really what you want? I mean, the kid has now verbally committed to 3 schools – Penn State, Wisconsin, now Rutgers. And you mix in the courting with Pitt, that’s 4 schools in the mix. No knock on him because I can’t say I knew EXCATLY what I wanted to do at age 18, but by the spring term of my senior year, I’d had my college choice pretty much identified. Anymore, it seems those kids that seem to be unable to make a decision just lead to problems.

REED i did some math dont knoe if it is right counted team took off SR and walk ons counted the 15 commits we have and came up with we only have 3 more to give with out kicking some one off the team or some one flunkig out
which if i am right means this class cant go over 18 unless we get rid of some one does that seam right to you.

If Christ had coached Pitt last year he may have won 9 games instead of six. That said, with a number of players returning and those in the Graham doghouse that were 4 star recruits (Clements and Myers) the pantry is far from empty.

Under Christ Street could become the wr threat he can be and Graham, if his leg is sound will be much more dangerous with a fullback in a proset. Schell should also be productive in a Christ system since he is the prototype Wisconsin back.

I really don’t care if we get another recruit besides the 15 + Holtz. I think this class is good, and there are enough big bodies from Wannstedt to get through a year or 2. Next year, we will have to bring some in, but by then Chryst & co will have had a year to work on it.
It is unfortunate he wasn’t hired last year, but that is as it is. I am way more concered w/ Bball right now.

It looks like Javonte Pitts will have academic problems again this year. Two star on Rivals and NR on Scouts. The key thing though is that he’s 5’10 so that may not be a big selling point for being a Chryst DB.